Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project
The 4 Derby chicklets are doing very well indeed. They are growing like they should and look very healthy. The parents bring in fresh prey, no left-overs here, but fresh caught birds are served for breakfast, supper and dinner.
They are 17 - 14 days old and comparing their appearence it's all going on schedule. The older ones are already showing dark spots along the edges of the wings, indicating the growth of the flight feathers underneath the covering of down. The down on the head also begins to take on a "rougher" texture around this time.
The youngest one is about 14 days old now and just entering the "hunchback" phase, during which they are often seen in a hunchbackposture, with their feet splayed out in front of them and their head angled forward.
All of them have their second down and are able to maintain there bodytemperature on 40 C without the warmth of a parents. That's why they are alone for long periods. The parents enjoy some tim eoff now. They chicks however do lay in a chickpile to save energy in thermoregulating. The parents seem to be away, but they are always very near. Out of the webcamangle, but I'm sure people in Derby can see them very close to the nestsite watching out for intruders, dangers and other things that might be able to harm their chicklets. So things are going fine with these 4 beautiful peregrine falcons eyases. And what a treasure this is, 4 new peregrines, they are still and again endangered. We should do everything to protect these so very, very special creatures. I do hope these 4 will too enlighten us all and show us how majestic animal spirit is. You only have to watch this peregrine family to feel what I mean.
More pics of today:
http://falcoperegrinus-froona.blogspot.com/2008/05/derby-cathedral-peregrine-project_20.html
To read more about the Derby peregrine project visit the Derby Pages.
And watch the webcams, it's great to watch the 4 chicklets.
http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/
Oberhausen: sad news
Wie Sie sicherlich bereits bemerkt haben, ist der Wanderfalkenhorst in
Oberhausen mittlerweile verwaist: Alle drei Jungfalken sind in der
vergangenen Woche ausgeflogen, und so wird die Nisthilfe nur noch sporadisch
besucht. Bemerkenswerterweise sucht das erwachsene Männchen besonders bei
schlechtem Wetter wie am vergangenen Freitag und Samstag, als es kühl-naß
war, den Horst auf und macht es sich dort bequem. Männer....!
As you will have noticed the nestsite is most of the time empty. The 3 juvi's have fledged last week. The male peregrine is quite often in the nestbox expecially when the wheather is bad like last weekend.
Leider hat einer der Jungfalken die ersten Flüge nicht gut überstanden:
Offenbar ist er mit einer Scheibe kollidiert und wurd am Boden sitzend
aufgefunden. Durch Mitarbeiter der AGW wurde er eingefangen und in
fachärztliche Behandlung gegeben. Es ist zu hoffen, daß keine bleibenden
Schäden entstanden sind, und das Junge eine zweite Chance zum Ausfliegen
bekommt.
Unfortunately one of the juveniles has had a bad first fledge. She seems to have colided with a wire and was found sitting on the ground. She was captured by the people of AGW and brought to the Avian medical Center. We all hope that she will not have damaged vital parts of her wings and will get a second chance to fledge once more.
De Mortel
As you can see the eyases are growing very rapidly. In their 5th week the changes are daily so big. The oldest ones are getting brown.
I have not posted this yet overhere:
The firstborn is male, he is already on his adult weight of 855. He is not the biggest one, that is his sister, the second born. She was 925 on Friday , will be growing some more. S2 is very big, so I'm sure she will have the posture of her mother.
The third born is male again, he was the most quiet one.
The fourth however is the one with the real attutude! She is some fixen! But a dear one, of course. She did not like it all one little bit. She struggled and protested and did not agree with anything. The man who banded them, carried them from the box on the roof to the room in linnen bags. She had to be put back in the bag. So she spread her toes, all 8 of them, and her wings, She went like: just try to put me back, you won't manage. I won't let you.
So this smallest chicklet needed 2 men to get her back in the bag. She pushed her nails in their hands, and then in the bag so she could not be moved back or forth. It was hilarious.
When we finally had her in the bag and closed it so she would be quiet, the moment we opened it to look at her, she started to yell at us. Eardrums popping! She is some kind of lady! With a big attitude just like her mum. But sweet.
She has a lot of growing to do She was only 655 grams and was small for her age. Nothing to worry about though..
They are growing nicely now. In about 10 days the firtst one and that will be the male no doubt will have his first fledge. How time flies.
I will visit the tower often in the upcoming weeks to watch them fledge and play and learn. It will be awesome to watch and hear them, all 4 of them in the sky above.
They touched my soul, they really did.
Indianapolis: Banding
The four young falcon chicks residing atop Market Tower will be removed temporarily from their cozy home and banded, tested and named on Tuesday starting around 11:45 am.
This event will take place rain or shine - the only glitch would be thunderstorms and that would only cause a delay in the action. Right now, they aren't predicting nasty storms - maybe some scattered showers - but then this is Indiana and as long-time Hoosiers know, the weather can change in an instant.
Here are some great video's by falconheadrmk
http://www.youtube.com/user/falconheadrmk
This event will take place rain or shine - the only glitch would be thunderstorms and that would only cause a delay in the action. Right now, they aren't predicting nasty storms - maybe some scattered showers - but then this is Indiana and as long-time Hoosiers know, the weather can change in an instant.
Here are some great video's by falconheadrmk
http://www.youtube.com/user/falconheadrmk
Brighton Sussex Heights banding
The four chicks were ringed yesterday, an event not unnoticed by their parents as they circled above and shrieked at their unexpected visitors...
As well as ringing, a range of measurements such as weight and feather length were taken, with the weight allowing to tell how many male and female chicks there are. Which turned out to be 3 males and one female this year. The three males all seem to be pretty equal in weight, and look to be getting their fair share of the food.
Harrisburg: 19 days old
The chicks are now roughly half the size of their parents, but their feet are already nearly full-grown, and thus appear disproportionately large. Also at this age, a small patch bare of down begins to appear behind the eyes.
Zwolle: 25 days old
When the eyases are in their fourth week of life, they undergo significant changes almost daily. Around day 25, the brown tips to the secondaries become clearly visible, and the number of coloured feathers visible on the breast increases noticeably. Behaviourally, they are rarely resting on their tarsi anymore at this age.
Derby Cathedral Peregrine Project
If you haven't you should visit the excellent Derby Blog with lots to read about the peregrines. And be sure to order a copy of the Derby DVD!
http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/
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